Gregory officials look to get finances back on track in wake of missing funds, delinquent payments

GREGORY - The time to "get out of jail free" is over in Gregory, Mayor Pro Tem Tino Zambrano said.

Months ago the city told residents if they came forward to report checks to the city that were never cashed, they would not be penalized or forced to reimburse money that never made it into the bank. It was all part of an investigation into $144,000 in missing city funds since 2011. About $30,000 of that was in checks.

Officials hoped residents would be able to provide the date a check was written and the city could check which employee reportedly made the deposit. However, after finding a cache of checks at a residence associated with a former employee, the city is contacting residents to tell them they have 10 days to make arrangements or the city will deposit the checks. Those checks add up to about $24,000.

Only three residents previously reported the dates of checks they had written to the city.

The move is one of many the city has taken to get back on track after a new administration also discovered thousands of dollars in delinquent bills.

New automatic water meters are being installed to accurately read water usage and the new system already has indicated almost 30 leaks at residences.

A 2010 auditor's report found that 20 percent of the city's meters either didn't work or weren't being read, so those residences were paying a minimum charge. In addition, several payments were waived and others were delinquent.

In July, Mayor Freddy Garcia began cracking down on delinquent payments, cutting off water to those residents. As a result, late payments dropped from $133,000 to $32,000 last month.

Since the cache of checks was found, several residents have made arrangements to make those payments by the end of the month.

Zambrano said he's impressed with the cooperation.

"They're just grateful that somebody did something about it," he said, adding that when he found out the money was missing, he wasn't looking to place blame. "All I was trying to do was provide financial statements to the council."